This invention relates to the field of building construction, and more specifically, relates to constructing foundation stem wall forms.
Foundations for housing structures are surrounded by a stem wall, which is a small perimeter concrete wall, usually between six and ten inches tall, upon which the perimeter of the house sits. This stem wall elevates the wooden structural members of a house, above the surrounding earth, so as to avoid standing water, rot and the like. In pouring a foundation and its associated stem wall, it is most desirable that the concrete pour be done continuously, so that there are no seams between the footing and stem wall to serve as an opportunity for water to seep through and cause damage. The set up of the stem wall portion of the continuous pour forms usually requires up to three laborers to properly space and elevate the form boards and then stake them into place. This process is time consuming and labor intensive.
Therefore, a needs exists for an apparatus which allows for the fast set up of stem wall forms with minimal labor requirements.
The inventive apparatus for building stem wall forms can be easily deployed by a single laborer to set up the stem wall forms at a building site. The apparatus is collapsible for easy deployment and removal from a stem wall form. In use, the apparatus functions by holding opposing form boards of a stem wall form in parallel alignment, so that the form boards can be staked and nailed into place. Once the form boards are staked in place to create a stem wall form, the apparatus can be collapsed, and removed from the form to be reused again at another location.
In the preferred embodiment, the apparatus is comprised of a center structure that is collapsible, and is coupled to a board holder for holding a one board side of a stem wall form in precise parallel alignment with an opposite board side of the stem wall form. Once aligned in a parallel orientation, the form boards are nailed to stakes, in the conventional way, and the form is complete. Preferably, for a typical form, (e.g. with a 2xe2x80x3xc3x9710xe2x80x3 form board having any standard length), a form laborer would deploy two to three of the apparatus along this length to set up a section of stem wall form.
When a section of form is set up, the worker needs only to collapse the apparatus and move to the next section of stem wall form and reuse the apparatus at that location. Accordingly, the following objects and advantages of the invention apply:
It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus for more efficiently setting up a stem wall form.
It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for saving on labor costs required to set up a stem wall form.
It is a final object of this invention to provide an apparatus for setting up a stem wall form that is easily removable from a stem wall form, following set up, and which can be reused.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention, without placing limitations thereon.